Fabric-folding machine.



W. S. MILLS.

FABRIC FOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 6, 1913. LMQSS. Patented May 25, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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lng NORM PETERS 60 PHomLlTHO.. WASHINGroN, D. c.

W. S. MILLS.

FABRIC FOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, I9I3.

Patented May 25, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

SIMM/whom WIWI/woes W122i Z121 1S. MTM/S rHE NORRIS PETERS CCLyPHOTO-1.17140., WASHINSTON. D. C.

W. S. MILLS.

FABRIC FOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. s, 1913.

Patented May 25, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

THE NORRIS PETERS C0., PHOTO-LITHD., WASHINGTDN. DA C.

WILLIAM S. MILLS, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

FABRIC-FOLDING MACHINE.

ratones.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1915.

Application led September 6, 1913. Serial No. 788,479.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, l/VILLIAM S. MILLS,citizen of the United States, and resident of Bridgeport, in the countyof Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Fabric- Folding Machines, of which the following1s a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in fabric foldingmachines and refers particularly to a machine for folding and laying acontinuous strip of woven or knitted fabrics into layers ofpredetermined lengths as thesame comes from a loom, drier or other formof fabric making or finishing machine.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and practical form ofmachine which will automatically receive and fold a continuous strip ofmaterial into yard or other specified lengths and to stack such layersone above the other to any desired height and in a way which will permitof the removal from the machine of the pile of material withoutdisturbing the folds and layers thereof.

Heretofore it has been customary to roll some forms of continuous stripsof knitted material as it comes from the drier, into rolls or bolts andlater to roll it 0H and cut it into lengths preparatory to making thesame into undershirts and the like, but I find that this form of rollingthe material is more or less objectionable as it tends to stretch thesame in some places more than others, and is also more liable to becomesoiled and wasted. Therefore, my novel machine has been especiallydesigned for folding and piling this form of knitted materialpreparatory to cutting it into lengths or parts for garments, yet itwill be obvious that it is equally as well adapted for folding andpiling other forms of fabrics for like purposes as for instance Silks,linens and prints of various kinds.

Upon the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specificationsimilar char acters of reference will be found to designate like orcorresponding parts throughout the several figures of which,

Figure 1, shows a side elevation of my improved fabric folding machineas it appears in operation. Fig. 2, is a sectional plan View of themachine, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 8, is a detached perspectiveview of the fabric carriage, forming a part of the machine and uponwhich the fabric is laid. Fig. t, is a front end view of the machine asseen from the right of Fig. 1, Fig. 5, shows an enlarged sectional planview taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1 and showing the feed rolls andadjustable guides, and, Fig. 6, shows an enlarged detail view of one endof fabric pile and weight therefor.

Referring in detail to the characters of reference marked upon thedrawings it will be seen that the machine includes a light form offrame-work comprising four corner legs or supports 10 and 10a, twoparallel longitudinal members 11 and end cross pieces l2 that connectthe longitudinal members to form a bench or table that is mounted uponthe before mentioned legs. The legs 10a extend up above the longitudinalmembers 11 and together with the two posts 13 secured to theintermediate portion of the table serve to support a rectangular shapedframe 14 that forms the uppermost part of the frame structure. Thefabric to be folded is first received through this upper frame and thenguided down through other parts of the machine and laid upon areciprocating carriage 15 which is designed to be moved forward and backward beneath the fabric as the same is fed to the machine. The inner topedge portion of the parallel longitudinal members 11 of the table serveas a track or runway for the beforementioned carriage and suitable meansare provided for moving the carriage backward and forward upon the saidrunway, as will also later be more fully eX- plained.

Power is imparted to the machine through a counter shaft 16 which inthis case is shown mounted in brackets secured to the floor. A belt 17serves to connect the driving pulley upon this countershaft 16 with apulley 18 upon the driven shaft 19. The shaft 19 is journaled inbearings 2O that are secured to a cross bracket 21 fastened to the legs10 under the forward end of the machine. rllhis shaft 19 is furtherprovided with a wheel 22 that isconnected by a belt 23 with a secondbelt wheel 24 mounted upon a shaft 25 journaled in suitable brackets 26attached to the before mentioned posts 13. A feed roll 27 is mountedupon the said feed shaft 25 and it together with a second and idler feedroll 28 serves to feed the fabric down upon the table. The said idlerroll 28 is mounted upon a shaft that is journaled in supporting member29 pivotally connected to brackets 30 secured to the top of thehorizontal members 11,0f the frame. A sprocket 31 is mounted upon theinner end of the shaft 19 and is connected by means of a sprocket chain32 with a second sprocket 33 mounted upon a shaft which is journaled inan upright 34 that is adjustably mounted in a longitudinally disposedbracket 35 secured to a cross member 36 which connects the two lowerends of the before mentioned posts 13. One end of va connecting rod 37is pivotally connected to a link of the said sprocket chain 32 and theother end is similarly connected to a depending bracket 38 secured tothe under side of the bed of the carriage 15. The said carriage 15 isprovided with four flanged supporting wheels 39 which engagey andoperate upon the before mentioned top edge portion of the horizontalmembers 11 of the table and serve to allow the said table to be freelyreciprocated backward and forward through the medium of the rod andchain connections heretofore mentioned. The carriage, as will be noted,see Fig. 3, includes two longitudinal side members 40 the outer ends ofwhich are bowed upward and connected together by rods 41. The bodyportion of the carriage is floored over to form a smooth flatsurfaceupon which the folds of the fabric 42 are stacked. To the saidrods 41 in each end portion of the carriage is pivoted a frame 43 whichincludes a rod 45 and upon these rods is hung a weight 44. These weightsare in the form of plates and are hung a little off vthis center so thattheir outer edge will first engage the fabric and so that as the weightsde scend and Hatten out on the fabric, they will draw the fabric outwardin a manner to stretch out the folds in the cloth and willy then layflat upon the cloth in this position until again raised. Guide rolls 46are mounted upon spindles 47 secured to the inner ends of thelongitudinal members of the frames 43 and as willbe noted are locatedoutside of the line of travel of the support` ing wheels 39 of thecarriage and are so arranged as to engage the upwardly disposed inclinedguide strips 48 of which there are two pairs. The lower ends of thesestrips are secured to the top side of the members 11 of the table whilethe upper ends are secured to the opposite sides of the posts 13.

One pair of these strips being arranged forward of the said posts andthe other pair aft and in line of travel of the before mentioned rolls46 mounted upon the inner ends of the frames 43 pivoted to the ends ofthe carriage. In practice the rolls of one of these frames is inengagement with one to provide for the possible difference in the travelof the fabric from the drier and upon the carriage of the folder, whichcompensator is obviously necessary since the feeding device of the drierand the carriage are in no way connected and could not be timed tooperate at exactly the same rate of speed.. In practice I aim to operatethese two machines at approximately the same speed giving thepreference, if there be any, to the feed of the drier so as to insureample material from which' the folding machine may draw during itoperation. This compensator device is of a simple construction, and willperhaps be best understood byV reference to Figs. 1 and 4. It is in theform of a pocket that is formed of a sheet metal plate 49 one end ofwhich is attached to a cross member 50 of the frame, and the other endagainst the end 51 of the rectangular frame. The upper extremity of thisstrip of metal 49 is disposed outward to form an inclined curved surfaceagainst which the fabric is fed and in a way to cause it to fold backand forth as it is fed in the said compensator. f From this compensatorthe fabric, which I have indicated as 42 is carried up over a suitableroll 52 and then passed forward through an adjustable guide 53 to theupper forward end portion of the frame work, and is then passed overanother guide roll 54 and led down through a pair of guide rods 55 andan adjustablev guide 56 and then carried between the before mentionedfeed rolls 27 and 28.

The adjustable guides 53 and 56 are sub- Y stantiallyl alike inconstruction and vas will be seen from Fig. 5 are arranged to providefor material-of different widths and to insure the saine being guideddown centrally upon the carriage so as to insure the several layers ofmaterial being arranged in alinement one upon the other'. Theseadjustable guides include brackets 57 that are secured to the frame andthe inner ends of these brackets are connected by a cross rod 58 and inthe other end is ourn'aled a screw 59 that is provided upon its oppositeend portions with a right and left hand thread. A pair, of guide blocks60 are mounted upon the opposite end portions of this screw 59 and -rod58 in a way to be moved backward and turning of the said screw 59 whichis done by operating the outer end or handle portion 61 thereof.

The length of the layers of the fabric are obviously determined by thelength of movement of the carriage which in turn is determined by thelength of the sprocket chain and the distance which the two sprocketsare arranged from each other. I have therefore provided a screw 62 foradjusting the sprocket 33 toward and from the first mentioned sprocket31 and then by removing one or more links of the'chain the carriage maybe made to travel a shorter distance from that shown in the drawing, ifdesired, although as before stated provision is made for folding andlaying the material into three foot lengths which is usually the lengthrequired.

By the foregoing construction it will doubtlessly be seen that thefabric is fed to the machine from above and may come direct from a loomknitting machine, drier or other form of machine and received in thecompensator. It is drawn from the compensator or pocket by the action ofthe feed rolls 27 and 28, the feed roll 27 being operated from the mainshaft 19. This shaft 19 also simultaneously-operates the sprocketconnection which in turn reciprocates the carriage. As the carriage isdrawn forward, see Fig. 1, the material is laid down forward andbackward flat upon the pile. As the carriage moves forward the weightand frame projected upward, as shown in Fig. 1, against the pair ofinclined strips 48 is gradually lowered until it rests upon the forwardend of the pile of fabric in the manner indicated by the weight andframe arranged at the rear end of the carriage in said figure. The rollsof the frame now shown at the rear end of the carriage engage theinclined strips 48 as the carriage is moved forward and raise the weightup out of the way so that the fabric may be laid flat thereon.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In a fabric folding machine of the class described, the combinationwith a table having centrally arranged uprights of a carriage mountedupon the table to travel between said uprights, means for feeding acontinuous strip of fabric to and piling it upon the said carriage,means for reciprocating the carriage backward and forward upon the tablewhile the said fabric is being fed thereto, inclined strips secured tothe table and uprights, weights carried by the carriage for retainingthe layers of fabric in position and adapted to engage the inclinedstrips in a manner to be raised from the fabric.

2. In a fabric folding machine of the class described, the combinationwith a table, of a carriage mounted thereon, means for feeding acontinuous strip of fabric to and piling it upon the said carriage,means for reciprocating the carriage backward and forward upon the tablewhile the said fabric is being fed thereto, weights carried by thecarriage to engage the fabric and hold it upon the carriage, means fixedto the table to raise and lower the weights at each end of the movementof the carriage and adjustable guides through which the fabric is fed tothe said carriage.

3. In a fabric folding machine, the combination with a suitable table,of a carriage mounted to travel thereon, means for reciprocating thecarriage, frames pivoted upon each end of the carriage, weightspivotally hung upon the frames and adapted to be carried with thecarriage and to normally rest upon the carriage or layers of fabricpiled upon the carriage to hold the same in position, stationary meansin the line of travel of the frames and weights to alternately engageand raise the frames and weights from the fabric to permit the same tobe folded at each end of the movement of the carriage.

4. In a fabric folding machine, the combination with a table, a carriagemounted thereon, means for moving the carriage backward and forward,means for feeding a continuous strip of fabric to and piling it uponsaid carriage in layers one upon the other, eccentrically hung weightscarried 100 by the carriage and adapted to engage the top layers offabric to stretch them out and hold them in position. and fixed meansmounted on the table to be alternately engaged to raise and lower theweights from 105 the pile of fabric as the carriage is fed backward andforward.

5. In a fabric folding machine of the class described, the combinationwith a table, of-

a carriage mounted thereon and adapted to 110 receive the fabric, meansfor reciprocating said carriage upon the table, a frame pivoted to eachend of the carriage and each frame having a free end also adapted torest upon the carriage, guide rolls mounted upon the frames, weightshung from the said frames and adapted to normally rest upon the pile offabric when contained upon the carriage, guide strips secured to thetable and engaged by the rolls on the frames to alternately raise theweights from the fabric at proper intervals to allow the incoming fabricto be spread upon the pile.

6. In a fabric folding machine of the class described, the combinationwith a table, a movable carriage mounted thereon, means forreciprocating said carriage upon the table, means for feeding a strip offabric to the carriage, means to guide the fabric central upon thecarriage, frames one end of each of which is lpivoted to one end of thecarriage, guide rolls mounted upon the frames, weights hung from thefree ends of the said frames and adapted to normally rest upon the pileof fabric, upwardly disposed curved guide stripsV secured to the tablefor engagement by the rolls of the frames to alternately raise theWeights from the fabric at proper intervals and to allow thi), incomingfabric to be spread upon the p1 e.

7 A fabric folding machine including a table, a reciprocating carriagemounted thereon, means for feeding a continuous f Y strip of fabric inlayers upon the carriage, means mounted on and carried by the carriagefor engaging the end portions of the respective layers of material andmoving outward thereon to smooth and draw the fabric outward upon thecarriage and holding such layers in said drawn position.

Signed at Bridgeport in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticutthis 3rd day of September A. D., 1913.

WILLIAM S. MILLS. Witnesses:

C. M. NEWMAN, V- RUTH M. WORDEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

